The topic arouses the interest of large international groups, which have already released estimates that such development could bring about US$ 10 billion in investments to Rio. The aspiration is for a resort integrated in the Porto Maravilha, which would directly impact the region and the center area of the city.
In the National Congress, there are several projects for the legalization of the gaming sector, one of which has existed for 30 years. The project that allows integrated resorts, which is halted at the Chamber of Deputies, conceives that in these establishments the casinos occupy a maximum of 5% of the area, the rest of which should be destined to hotels, convention centers, concert halls, leisure areas and shopping malls.
In September last year, another bill was introduced in the Senate to legalize integrated resorts, with more restrictions than that of the Chamber, providing that the tax revenues of these projects are applied exclusively to housing projects. In the new version, each State may have only one establishment, against the three originally planned.
One of the interested groups is the United States' Las Vegas Sands (LVS), whose founder, Sheldon Adelson, died last month. The businessman Marcelo Conde, owner of STX Desenvolvimento Imobiliário, believes that Adelson's widow, Miriam, will be interested in maintaining the project for the integrated resort in Rio, as this was her husband's dream. A delegation of Brazilian parliamentarians was received in Las Vegas in 2020 by LVS chief operating officer Rob Goldstein, who became president of the group after Adelson's death.
Casinos in neighboring countries
Sheldon Adelson was a billionaire who made a fortune the events sector and with big casinos. LVS has integrated resorts in the United States, China, and Singapore. Conde accompanied the American mega-investor in 2017 and 2018, when he personally visited Brazil to try to convince local authorities to approve his business model. On these visits, he was accompanied by Miriam.
Legalized casinos have been banned in Brazil since 1946, but clandestine gaming exists everywhere. As a result, the country loses in tax collection and generation of formal jobs. With legalization, it would be up to the government to act against money laundering and foreign exchange evasion. In the absence of their own casinos, Brazilians travel to place bets abroad, even in border countries, such as Uruguay, Argentina, Paraguay, Bolivia, Colombia, and Venezuela.
On his last visit to Rio, in May 2018, Sheldon Adelson left a message for the city and the country: “I am no longer young, I am between grandfather and great-grandfather. But it's not just me. The ‘garota of from Ipanema’ and everyone who was seduced by this song and by that time also grew old. Rio has to run.” Adelson died on January 11, at the age of 87, from complications of a lymphoma.
Source: Diário do Porto
